154 



FAMILY BOSTRYCHIDAE 



FlG. 1 02. Entrance holes and tunnels of Sinoxylon 

 crassum, Lesne, in bark and wood of a Ptcrocarpus 

 marsupium pole. Mandla, Central Provinces. 



trees. On several occa- 

 sions I have found them 

 engaged in this manner. 

 They undoubtedly prefer, 

 however, timber which has 

 been felled for a short 

 period, the length of time 

 depending upon whether 

 the material has been 

 cut in the cold -weather 

 months, when it loses its 

 sap slowly, or in the hot 

 weather. The beetle will 

 not usually infest abso- 

 lutely dry timber, and in 

 this respect differs from 

 its oft-time companion, 

 Sinoxylon anale, which is 

 described below. 



To oviposit the female 

 tunnels into the wood 

 either through the bark or 

 in at one end of a cut log 

 or billet, the presence or 

 absence of the bark on the 

 wood apparently being 

 immaterial. This tunnel 

 is a short one, is taken at 

 a varying angle to the 

 exterior surface of the log, 

 and is generally about a 

 quarter to half an inch in 

 length. Its end is enlarged 

 into a chamber, so that 

 two beetles can move about 

 in the space, and a male 

 beetle enters to the female 

 here and fertilizes her. A 

 tunnel is then carried to 

 the heart of the tree (or 

 at least into the heart- 

 wood in big trees), whose 

 direction changes several 

 times. In some cases the 

 beetle starts by taking 



